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East English Village Home Tour shows off great opportunities

October 12 2012 | no comments

The tree-lined streets of East English Village are stunning this time of year. This neighborhood of 2100 homes is one of the stronger communities in Detroit.

William Barlage is president of the East English Village Homeowner’s Association, an organization celebrating it’s 35th anniversary this year. Barlage says the community is made up of Cape Cods, colonials, bungalows. Most homes are all brick, “People-wise we have a little bit of everybody. We’re proud of that fact.”

East English Village is bordered by Cadieux, Harper, Outer Drive and Mack. Like every other neighborhood in the city, East English Village was hit hard by the economic downturn and the mortgage crisis.

Barlage says, “We truly have been challenged in many ways. but our home base has stayed here and we’ve welcomed many new people.”

New residents are what will keep this neighborhood strong. East English Village has come up with a way to attract new residents while keeping foreclosed homes from deteriorating, or worse.

The community has partnered with the Land Bank of Detroit to identify a number of foreclosed houses that could either become blighted or remain beautiful. The Detroit Land Bank purchased the homes, is renovating them and making them available to new residents.

Gwen Wee is security coordinator for the neighborhood. She says, “Having these renovated homes is inspiring to us all.”

This Sunday East English Village is hosting a home tour of 17 of these houses. Three of them on Harvard Road have been completely renovated and staged. According to Barlage, “Everything is new and still keeping in context the architectural merit of all of our homes.”

The other 14 are in various stages of renovation, and are also part of the tour.

The three completely renovated houses will be offered for $65,000 to $70,000. The prices for the other homes will depend on their level of renovation.

The home tour Sunday runs from 1:00 to 5:00pm.

Everyone who takes part in the tour will need to register at 4240 Kensington Road. That’s off Mack between Mack and Warren. Three buses will be constantly circling the tour route so guests can see whichever homes interest them.